


Detect My Sudden Existence on Your Sonar

by Kalcifer



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen, Moving In Together, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 16:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21305297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: AuDy didn't intend for the rest of the Chime to move in with them. They didn't object when it happened, though.
Relationships: AuDy & Cassander Timaeus Berenice & Aria Joie & Mako Trig
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Detect My Sudden Existence on Your Sonar

**Author's Note:**

> I had to work very hard to convince myself not to title this "oh, you're a chime?" but fortunately Vienna Teng is the fic writer's savior. Enjoy something only slightly more serious than that title would have suggested.

Mako was the first to move in.

AuDy was already living on the ship, of course. They’d rarely left since they receiving it from Orth, spending their spare time running diagnostics and running simulated missions and finding other ways to occupy themself. They wouldn’t call what they’d done moving in, though. Moving implied that you owned something to move.

The fact that they were constantly onboard meant that they noticed immediately when Mako showed up with a number of duffel bags. They watched through the exterior cameras as he fogged his way onto the ship.

By the time he made it to the rooms that could generously be considered safe for human habitation, AuDy was there waiting for him. Mako set down his bags with a thud. “Oh, hey, AuDy. Great flying on that last job.”

AuDy ignored the compliment. They were already aware of their competence. “What are you doing?”

“Well,” Mako said. “I was just thinking. We have this great ship, right?”

“I have a ship that the rest of you take for granted,” AuDy said. The quality of the _Kingdom Come_ was also debatable, but they weren’t about to give Mako that opening.

“You see?” Mako said, apparently considering their statements equivalent. “And there are all these rooms we aren’t using. So I figured, why don’t I take one of them and keep you company?”

“I don’t need your company,” AuDy said. He wasn’t wrong about the use of space, though. It was inefficient. There were portions of the ship where AuDy might not notice a mechanical failure until it either interfered with their piloting or killed their crew.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Mako screwed up his face in a way that was presumably meant to be endearing. “If you really don’t want to see me around, I can stay in a spare closet or something. I don’t take up much space. But come on, this place is so much nicer than my old apartment!”

A dire pronouncement. AuDy was willing to be persuaded if Mako was that desperate. They doubted he would actually stay out of their way, regardless of where he slept, but the image of him crammed into a maintenance closet was amusing. “Fine,” they said. “As long as you promise not to get in my way.”

Mako beamed. “Yeah, sure,” he said, not at all convincingly. “Thanks!”

AuDy hadn’t known Mako very long, but they could tell he wasn’t going to listen. The thought bothered them less than they might have expected.

True to his word, he dragged his bags to a spare closet and made himself at home. True to AuDy’s expectations, it only took him a few days to start showing in random rooms as they passed through. They never caught him moving. He always seemed engrossed in some gadget or toy, oblivious to their presence, so they ignored him.

They weren’t sure how he made the leap to lying in hallways, waylaying them with jokes found on the Mesh and random declarations of what he’d been thinking about. They weren’t encouraging him. They stood and listened and made occasional blunt comments. He didn’t seem to care, though, so they didn’t bother changing their behavior. It worked well enough.

They’d spent maybe two weeks getting used to having Mako underfoot when they got a job big enough to call in the rest of the Chime. It didn’t sound too dangerous, only a matter of retrieving information from the databanks of a tentative Lux Vox Research Center outpost. Naturally, they failed at their initial infiltration and caused several more explosions than were in the plan, but they made it out unscathed, if with a little more urgency than would be ideal.

The speed of takeoff and some of AuDy’s wilder maneuvers flung several of the doors on the _Kingdom Come_ open. One of them was the door to Mako’s closet, sending his things flying down the hallway. Mako ran after them. “My limited edition Marielda figurines!”

Cass raised an eyebrow. “Why did you bring those on a mission in the first place?” they called after him.

Mako looked over his shoulder so that Cass could see him roll his eyes. “Oh, yeah, let me just get all my stuff off the ship and leave it someplace while we commit crimes, that’s a good idea.”

Cass looked skeptically at the number of things lying in the hallway. “Wait, are you living in the ship?”

“Oh, yeah, I moved in weeks ago.” Mako grinned. “AuDy and I have been bonding.”

“You showed up with duffel bags, refused to leave, and have been bothering me ever since,” AuDy clarified.

“… Of course,” Cass said. They tried to look disapproving, but couldn’t fight down a smile.

Aria stuck her head out the bathroom door, where she’d been trying to get the worst of the dust off her clothes. “Is that offer open to the rest of us? It would be a lot easier to do maintenance on the Brilliance if I were already living here.”

“You see?” Mako said. “It’s good strategy. I’d think you’d appreciate that.”

“I’m sure you were thinking about strategy, and not at all about rent,” Cass said dryly.

Aria was still looking at AuDy expectantly, so they considered it. Having her around would make gathering the crew easier, and as she said, it would give her more access to her mech. And they were surviving having Mako around. They couldn’t imagine she would demand more of their attention than he did.

“Fine,” they said. They didn’t bother qualifying it this time. They knew a lost cause when they saw one.

“Great!” Aria brightened. “Thanks, AuDy. I’ll grab my stuff as soon as we finish up here.” She vanished back into the bathroom.

“Welcome to the cool kids club,” Mako said. He looked pointedly at Cass.

“Stop trying to drag me into this.” Cass sighed. “If it’s alright with AuDy, I wouldn’t mind keeping a spare change of clothes onboard, but I’ve already tried living on a spaceship, and I’m not a fan.”

“Killjoy,” Mako accused.

“Give them time,” Aria called. “They’ll see what they’re missing out on soon enough.”

“I’m right here, you know.”

“We can gossip about Cass once they leave,” AuDy said. “Right now, we need to get in touch with Paisley.”

Cass looked like they wanted to protest, but they couldn’t do so without being the one to get everyone distracted again. They settled for grumpily rearranging the contents of their medical kit as Aria emerged to make the call.

The handoff was uneventful for once. They got paid and made it back to the spaceport without incident. An hour or so later, Aria was back, hauling a ridiculous number of boxes.

“Hey!” she said when AuDy went out to let her in. “Could you show me where you want me to stay? I need to go back and get the rest of my stuff, but I might as well get all this out of the way now.”

“That is a large number of things. I don’t know if the ship will be able to fly under that much additional weight,” AuDy lied. They’d seen the state Aria leaves the hangar in after working on the Brilliance. They had no intention of giving her more ammunition.

Unfortunately, she only laughed in response. “The _Kingdom Come _carried dozens of people during the war, I think it can handle a little bit of junk.”

“It has been stripped and damaged since then,” AuDy pointed out.

“You’ve been handling it fine so far,” Aria said. “I have faith in you.”

“Handling will not matter once the engines fail,” AuDy said. They stepped aside to let her onboard anyway. “You can be the one to explain to everyone when we can’t take off.”

“Sure thing,” Aria said. She picked up her first box.

By the time she’d finished moving all her things onto the ship, she had taken over three bedrooms. Mako complained even as he helped her unpack. “How come you get three rooms when I only get one?”

“AuDy likes me better,” Aria said calmly.

Mako gave AuDy a betrayed look.

“Aria did ask before assuming she could live on my ship,” AuDy said. They passed her a hairbrush from one of the boxes.

“We’re a team! We’re supposed to support each other, and not play favorites.” Mako gestured with a book as if to prove his point.

“Don’t worry,” AuDy said. “The odds of Aria doing something stupid and losing my favor are quite high.”

Aria hit them with the hairbrush. “You know what, I agree with Mako.”

“Thank you!” Mako turned to AuDy, vindicated. “You’re outvoted, you have to be nicer to us now.”

“We have never been a democracy, and this is still my ship.”

Mako leaned in to Aria and stage whispered, “I think we need to stage a coup.”

“Not yet,” Aria stage whispered back. “Wait until we can get Cass on our side. Otherwise they might launch a surprise attack while we’re distracted.”

“Good idea,” AuDy said at their usual volume. “That will give me time to find better crew members.”

“Too late,” Mako said cheerfully. “We live here now, so good luck getting rid of us.”

“There’s no escape,” Aria agreed.

AuDy had assumed they were joking, but the next few days prove otherwise. Like with Mako, they began walking into rooms to find Aria humming to herself and tripping over her things in the hallways.

What they weren’t prepared for was how Mako and Aria would interact. They bickered over who should have access to the bathroom first in the mornings. They commiserated over the food that was or wasn’t in the fridge, despite being the ones who purchased it in the first place. And they kept pulling AuDy in on the flimsiest of premises. AuDy would be minding their own business when Aria started an impromptu concert or Mako demanded they join them on a trivial errand.

AuDy barely had time to run flight simulations, some days. They began doing maintenance at night, when they were less likely to be interrupted while handling parts that could explode and kill them all. As an added bonus, when Mako or Aria did catch them at it, they nearly always jumped. Humans were so limited by their need for light.

Cass continued to stop by at regular intervals to work on the Megalophile. As promised, they brought a backpack with supplies for staying the night, but they refused to be talked into moving in. This didn’t stop Mako and Aria from trying every time Cass was within earshot.

“It’ll be fun,” Mako said. “You’ll be here to listen to my excellent jokes 24/7.”

“We’re pretty out of the way, so you don’t have to worry about being recognized,” Aria tried. “And if someone does start hanging around, we can fly somewhere else and lie low for a few days.”

“It’s nice to be able to fly without having to worry about work. You can actually see the stars, for like five minutes when it’s clear,” Mako cajoled.

“Aren’t you always concerned about us getting to jobs in time? It will be much easier if we’re already in the same place and don’t need to wait for each other,” Aria suggested.

Every time, Cass listened to them and nodded thoughtfully, then made an excuse to leave. They never addressed any of the arguments. AuDy could tell they were conflicted about something, but they refused to say anything, and both Mako and Aria were too stubborn to abandon their self-appointed mission.

They kept dancing around the matter through their next few jobs. Cass showed up and made plans and joked with the rest of them, but they practically fled the ship once they’d gotten paid. For their parts, Mako and Aria began getting snippy with Cass, alternately laughing with them and freezing them out. Aria nearly got herself shot raising her voice at them at the wrong time.

It was exhausting. AuDy did their best to stay out of it, shutting themself down every time Mako tried to pull them into an argument. He only tried it while they were midair once, because while AuDy wasn’t actually willing to crash the ship to make a point, they were willing to let Mako believe they would. His expression as they booted back up was almost worth the whole mess.

It came to a head after a particularly grueling attempt to track down a bounty brought them halfway around the planet. Their target was knocked out in the medbay, and Cass assured them the sedative would last for at least a day.

AuDy didn’t want to deal with having everyone roaming the hallways and jumping every time they ran into one another, so they said, “You all should rest. I can get us back to Centralia without your input.”

“Wow, thanks,” Aria muttered, but she flashed a tired smile.

Mako nodded dully. “Yeah, alright.” Their target had turned out to have more drones than any single person should, and Mako had had to Fog them all on short notice. He was still pretty out of it.

Cass hesitated, but they were clearly exhausted too. Their shoulders sagged. “Sure,” they said. “Just tell me where you want me.”

“You can have any of the rooms Aria hasn’t taken over,” AuDy said. “Aria will show you to the living area.”

“I mean, you can follow me back to my own room as I go pass out, I suppose.” Aria yawned ostentatiously. “That will get you there.”

Cass shot AuDy a look. It didn’t have the desired effect, as AuDy had no face to react with. Aria ignored it to follow through on her passing-out intentions. Cass was forced to follow her or be left behind. Mako had already vanished, leaving AuDy alone on the bridge.

They flew the ship. They were very good at it.

It was dark the entire flight back, the sun frozen just below the horizon. Only their internal clock told them that five hours had passed when Cass came up behind them. They waited another two minutes and forty-three seconds for Cass to speak. “The bed was already made when I got there,” Cass said at last. “No dust or anything.”

“Okay,” AuDy said.

“It didn’t look like anyone was living there, either.”

“That’s true.”

Cass made a helpless noise. “Why?”

“In case someone were to stay there,” AuDy said. They would have thought it was obvious.

“I think I’ve been pretty clear about not intending to move in,” Cass said, defensive.

“Yes,” AuDy agreed. “You’re being idiotic about it.”

Cass sputtered. “I – what? How am I the idiot here?”

“Aria and Mako have been quite clear about the benefits of having you here. You have no counterarguments, and yet you continue to resist.” AuDy reached past Cass to flip a switch. “Am I mistaken?”

Cass shook their head. “We haven’t been working together for very long, and it’s clear that Mako and Aria don’t like me very much. It’s better for everyone if our relationship is strictly professional.”

If AuDy had eyes, they would have been rolling them. “Mako and Aria are unhappy with you because you insist on running from them. You don’t have to match their level of enthusiasm. Simply existing in the same space seems to be enough.”

Cass didn’t respond right away. AuDy couldn’t read their facial expression, and they didn’t want to look closer in case Cass took that as an invitation to elaborate. This conversation was already a much deeper examination of Cass’ feelings than AuDy was comfortable with.

“I don’t understand,” Cass said at last. It was rather underwhelming for something that took so long. “I mean, you don’t know anything about me. Why do you care?”

“They’re fond of you,” AuDy said. “You really should just accept it and move in.”

Cass laughed, and then looked surprised, as if they weren’t expecting the sound either. “Yeah. I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

It was more of a concession than they’d made to this point, so AuDy assumed it was as good as agreement. “Good,” they said. “Now get out of the cockpit. There’s nothing for you to do right now.”

“Yeah,” Cass said again. “Right. Good night, AuDy.”

“Good night.” AuDy stared at their display until Cass was gone.

They were about an hour out from Centralia before they heard the clatter of movement from within the ship again. A lot of it was familiar: the slam of doors where Mako didn’t remember to close them quietly, the strains of music as Aria hummed to herself while doing her makeup. There was also a hiss coming from the kitchen, and ten minutes later, the sound of voices.

AuDy couldn’t make out words, but they turned on autopilot and leaned closer to the doorway. It only made sense for them to want to know if their crew was about to fall apart.

There were harsh words for a little while, followed by quiet. Just when AuDy was wondering if the discussion was over, there was laughter.

Good. It sounded like they wouldn’t have to intervene again.

They went back to the controls and let the sounds of conversation wash over them as they flew into the dusk.

* * *

“I made dinner for everyone,” Cass said, standing in the doorway of the bridge. “You should join us.”

“I don’t eat,” AuDy said.

Cass snorted. “Yeah, but you should still come sit with us.”

“Are you trying to make me jealous?” AuDy asked. “I have no interest in eating, either.”

“Trust me, neither do I half the time.” Cass shook their head. “Look, it’s not about the food. It’s a chance for everyone to sit down and talk about nothing.”

Cass was doing a very bad job of convincing them. “Why?” AuDy asked.

Cass quirked a smile. “At a guess, they’re fond of you, and you should accept it and come sit with us.”

Ah. It was possible AuDy had been a hypocrite. Their team hadn’t been visibly upset with them, so they assumed they were doing sufficiently. They may have missed some of the nuances to the others’ behavior.

“Fine,” AuDy said. “I will listen to your ridiculous stories.”

“That’s all we’re asking.”

As promised, the conversation at the table was very silly, and nothing of value was discussed. AuDy’s major contribution was to point this fact out.

When Cass made dinner the next week, AuDy was the first one at the table.

**Author's Note:**

> me starting to write this fic: I can't imagine AuDy inviting everyone to live with them, but wouldn't it be funny if Mako just invited himself? Haha, fun jokes  
me ending this fic: Cass explicitly declared family as one of the pillars of their identity and then watched as theirs crumbled around them... I can't imagine they'd be quick to accept a new one
> 
> I am incapable of not overthinking Counterweight and this is just my life now.


End file.
